Joseph ryan



@einen was item1 IMPROVEMENT IN FLUID EJBG'IERS.

t'lge Stimuli finira in iii tlgrsiiitcrs filinit mit mating putt if tigetime TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CON CERN: l

Be it known that I, JOSEPH RYAr-of the city and countyof St. Louis, inthe State of Missouri, have invented a new and improved Single orDouble-Acting Combined Air and Steam Siphon; and I do hereby declarethat thc following is a full and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to 'the letters of referencemarked thereon. 0f said drawings I Figure l shows the Siphon in a.series of vertical central sectional elevations, thus: the part includedin the bracket marked A,Sl10Ws the section aty 2, of fig. 2; the partincluded in the bracket marked A3 shows the section at y1 21, of iig. 2;the partjincludcd i'n the bracket marked A4 shows thc section at gf ze,of iig. 2.

Figure 2 is a rear endA elevation of the Siphon. v

Figure 3 is a sectional plan at line ys z3, of fig. 2.

Figure L.lis-an enlarged centra-l section of the cap nut Z.

The nature of my invention has the following general features: Inraising water by air pressure in the steam Siphon, the partial Vacuu'informed by the condensation of the steam is vitiated by air leaking intoit, thus diminishing'the effective action of the Siphon. I thereforeseek to perfect and preserve the attained partial vacuum by providing apacking or smiling-box arrangement wherever valves are necessary, whichshall bc virtually airtight. This is effected, as hereinafter especiallyset forth, by a iluid packing. Secondly, after water has been raised itmust be discharged against air pressure. This in common siphons isovercome by the action of a current of steam simply. I aid this currentof steam by introducing a current of air, and in such manner that thesteam'current imparts to the air current a part ofits velocity, therebygiving the air current a propelling action, aiding the discharge ofwater. Now as in the air action there is no appreciable loss bycondensation, itwill be seen that this improvement is effective andvaluable. The steam current, moreover, imparts, by transmission, to theair current a portion of its heat, which, by expanding the volume vofair, increascsthc velocity of the air current and affects beneficiallythewatendischarging action. In a detail feature the nature of myinvention consists in so arranging the parts of my Siphon that whiledrawing from a single supply pipe it may discharge water from one or twodischarge pipes, or, as I shall hereafter term it, be single or doubleacting.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improved Siphon,I will r.proceed to describe its construction and operation.

` Iconstruct the housing A of cast iron, brass, or other suitablematerial, and of the peculiar Shape pre' sented in the drawings, thesame being in its parts composed of rounded hollow cylinders andhollowvglobes, as best shaped for aueconomical resistance of pressureand for reducing to a minimum the frictional resistance against the flowof water. The part ofthe housing marked A1 is at its lower end aimmersed in water to the depth indicated by blue linesin figs. 1 and 2.The neck part A5 is vlengt-honed .according to the height to which thewater shall be raised; for instance, vin a ship the flange a1V rests thcwhole apparatus and secures it in the usual water-tight manner to thedeck, the neck pieces A5 being then of suilicient length to allow atorea-ch to the bilge Water, the parts A2, and especially the severalhand-wheels, being then easily accessible to the operator standing ondeck- The lowest bulb B is halvedl at b, the parts being joined in awater-tight manner by screwthreads or by common flanges. Between thehalves is inserted the diaphragm plate Zz, which allows water to passits perforations, but prevents the ingress of such impurities as willinjure parts above. The lower part of B forms the seat for agl'obevalve,'b2. Of this the balli?2 is made of a wooden body, coatedwith vulcanized rubber, gutta pcrcha, or some equivalent substance. Thiscoating will secure awater-tight fit of this valve when closed, and asthewear will affect the ball 122, and not so much the metal seat, andthis ball can easily be replaced, I hold that this arrangement will bebeneficial. I The plate b1 serves, furthermore, to limit the rise of theball b2. The bulb B connects by 'a short neck with the bulb C, whichcontains a throttle-valve, as shown in hori zontal section in fie. 3.The bulb C connects by a screw joint, or by iianges, in a watertightmanner, with' the rounded cylinder C1. Through the axis of, this passesthe valve stem c. As will beY hereafter more fully shown it is ofimportance to prevent air to leak into the bulb C. I have therefore madethe following arrangement: I screw into the inner surface of thejoint-piece of the lbulb C the cap nut el; into this again is screwedthe packing nut c2, leaving between the two the piace c3 to be iilled bycotton yarn or other" suitable packing material. By screwing the cap nutc2 into c1 the` packing is pressed against the valve stem securing thewater-tight passage of' thc steam; but lest this packing should allow-air to leak 4through lv lill the cylindrical space ci with some liquid,usually water, and this will, moreover, preserve the packing'in c" in:1- moist .cned condition. The liquid filling c4 is poured in bythefunnel pipe'c. This is .shown enlarged in g. 4. ,There are small annularopenings, extending from the inner edge of Cl to thc, top of c, to allowthe escape ot' the ali' in lilling c4 with fluid. The Z'screws on the'upper end of. c, The'stcm c passes on through `the neck part' of Cl,there being at c6 another packing, secured by the cap nut c7 in a4water-tightmanner. This thrrittlc-valve being usually some twenty feetbelow the station of the operator, in order to actuate` it seeiire 'tothc-end of lthe stem c the worm gear-wheel es, which is turned by theworm or screw on thesl1aft-e." This'sh'aft passes up to the station ofthe operator, and is there turned by the hand-wheel-c. The shaft 0 findsits support in the bearings of the forks of the standard c,whichuissccured around the neck-piecc of Cl. New as the worinwheel mustremain in Contact with worin on e9, the stem cannot at this point movehorizontally. I therefore construct it of two parts, c, and cm'beingmale and female screws, so that by turning c and preventing it fromhorizontal motion by the pin am, which bears in the annular slot of omand is fast in the neclr of Cl, the part c, is drawn forward, openingthe valve passage, or forced backward, closing it. It is here immaterialwhich ot' thc parts c, and c are male -or female. IThe tw'o branches olthe neck `part A5 connect with the upper part of the bulb C. Each ofthese branches consists of a pipe, D, and a root-piece, DI; this latterwill usually con ncct'immediately with G. The joint between D and D1 Iconstruct as follows: ythe upper end of Dl is widened, forming theconical space d so as to pass the flange d1 on D and rest it securely onD; the intervening space is then iilled by some (to water) impervioussubstance, lead, iron,.cement, orrsome other. Next above the flange alis the chamber A, which connects with-the priming apparatus hereafterdescribed. vThis chamber is divided equally by a partition wall, a?,4which extends from' the ange alto the upper end of the apparatus,dividing it into two separate parts. Next above are the globes E, bothequal in construction and operation, and on diicrent sides ot thepartition a2. These contain throttle-valves, with liquid packing similarto that in the cylinder C1. These valves are actuated by the hand-wheelse?, and these simply turn the stems e, which being provided witl`screw-threads where they pass the cap nuts el, will move horizontally,opening or closing the valve passages. Next above are the double-bulbchambers F. These are at vtheir front side shaped to discharge thewater. The mouth-pieces Fl are narrowest in area of section about atf,and widen toward the end fl, thus facilitating the easy discharge ofwater. At the rear end of F are the cylinders F2; these are closed byvthe caps f1 and contain an inner cylinder f2 which again at their rearends are closed by the throttles f3 these threttles f3 are operatedthrough the stems fr and hand-wheels ji, The stems nd a bearing in thesupport fo through which they pass with screw-threads, so that inturning the hand-wheels f5 the stems receive the necessary horizontalmotion. The cylinders FZ are connected each by pipes with the steamchamber Gr; this connection is opened or closed by the common stop-cocksg. The steam chamber Gr receives steam direct from the boiler throughthe main supply pipe gl. Furthermore, G is connected by a pipe with thechamber A6. This pipe has a stopcock, g2. t l

I will now proceed to describe the Aoperation of my improved siphon insingle action. All the throttlevalves on the one side of the partitiona2 remain and are closed. The throttle-valve in C isclosed, that in E isopen. When the priming-cock g" is opened steam passes' into all partsabove the lowest throttle-valve, (in 0,) and drives out the air;l thiseffected, close the throttle-valve in E. The steam condenses between thetwo valves, and if now the valve in C is opened', the water in risingfills the partial vacuum to the valve in E. If now the valve E isopened, the air pressure from above would force the water back were itnot that the ball b2, which Vwas raised by the water in its upwardpassage, now drops and prevents the return new. Moreover, if new thesteam cocks g permit steam to pass into the outer chamber of F2, thesteam current passing forward carries thev air with it, and'also bycondensation creating'a partial vacuum, causes the water toA rushforward to the discharge atfl. As was observed, the action of the Siphonto raise water depended on the formation ofthe partial'vacuum betweenthe throttle-valves in C and E; hence it is important toprevent anyleakage of air at these valves, which could vitiate the vacuum thusformed, and to effect this I have introduced the liquid packings asheroinbefere described. It has been observed that the air pressure fromthe discharge f1 opposes the passage of the water after its rise te thethrottle in E. To aid the steam current in overcoming this airresistance I'introduce an air current, thus: when thesteam currentthrough F" is in action, open the throttle f3 thus permitting air v topass into the cylinder f2; this will rush forward to ll the partialvacuum created bythe steam current, surrounding it, and thus the aircurrent will act upon-the water, forcing it to discharge atj'i.Moreover, the air being surrounded by steam will become heated; it willexpand; and to permit and facilitate this expansion the tube f; maycontain the vglobefl this globe presenting also a large surface for theheating action of the surrounding steam to take elect upon. Thisexpansion of the air necessarily causes'an increase of its velocity, andmomen-tum, making the action upon the water still more elective. The airtubes f2 may extend out even with the tubes F2, or they may extendfarther or lbe shorter, (the latter positions being marked by red linesaccording as the action of the air current'may be desired. The shorterthe air tube the sooner the steam current carries the air forward, butthe less is gained by air expansion. 0f course the amount of airadmitted into the cylinderfz can be closely regulated by thethrottle-valvcsjl, I believe that above thirty per cent. of the usefuleilect produced iscaused by the introduction of the air current in thetubes In order that I may the benefit of an expansive action of thesteam in F11 when higher pressures are used, Imake the inner surface ofF2 wider at the discharge end. This is shown by red lines in fig. 1. Theflow of water will necessarily be continuous until the supply of steamis checked and the throttle-valves closed.

When the siphon shall be double acting, the throttle-valve in C is, asbefore,flrst closed and steam admitted on both sides of the partitiona2. Then the throttle-valves in E being closed the vacuum forms in bothbranches ofA, between C and E. Then the throttles in E on both sides`opened and the steam (first having been cut off nt g2) permitted topass in both tubes Fl, will cause the water to discharge from bothdischarge pipes. 'Elie air-current action is brought tobear in bothtubes f2 Havingl described my said improvement, what l' claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The method of economizing' the heat produced by the condensation bfsteam in a vSiphon by application thereof to one or more air currentsthen caused to actin combination with the-steam current or currents uponthe fluid to be raised, substantially as set forth. v

2. The arrangement of the'tube F2, its feed of steam and stop-cocks, ortheir equivalent, with the tubefg its feed of air and throttle-valve,orcquivalents, in such manner that the steam current shall impart to the'air current velocity and heat, and bring said air current in actingcontact with the water to be discharged, thus avoiding greater loss ofpower by condensation, which would ensue if steam alone were used,substantially as set forth. y

3. The tube F2, arranged to utilize the expansion of steam by wideningthe inner diameter thereof, substantially as set forth.

4. The globes or other increases of surfaces of the aiiwfeed tubefg thusfavoring an expansive action of air, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of the lsupply pipe gl, the'steam chamber G,stop-cocks g, and feed pipes starting from G, for the purpose described.

6. The arrangement and combination of the chambers F, the bulbs E, withthe necks A5, and the bulbs C' and D, when used as set forth.

7. The arrangement for packing the valve rods to effect the perfectexclusion of air from the vacuum, the same consisting of a stuffing-boxarrangement, el, c2, and c3, (iig. 4,) and this surrounded by a liquid,usually water, as in c4, and this backed by a second stuffing-box, as atc6 and e7, or any equivalent arrangement which uses a liquid to preventthe egress or ingress o'f air, in combination with some mechanicalstuiling-box contrivance, to prevent the leakage of the air-'checkingfluid.

8. The combination of the male and female screw parts c and 0 of thevalve stem o, with the pin em, worm-whcel c3, worm-shaft c, andhand-wheel cw, as and for the purposes set forth.

9.. The joint of the pipe D with the root-piece DI, by means of a flangeall and lead, cement, or equivalent nlling the space surrounding d1 ofDI, substantially as described.

10. The valve ball b2, when arranged cf an inner Wooden kernel, andcoated with vulcanized rubber, or its equivalent, as set forth.

11. The, combination of the bulb B, diaphragm plate bl, and drop-valveb2, as and for the purpose set forth.

JOSEPH RYAN.

Witnesses:

GEORGE P. HERTHEL, Jr., N. WAGNER.

